Gamers are once again let down by the shameless ignorance and dishonesty of games journalists:
> More importantly, this also ignores the fact that libraries already lend out digital versions of more traditional media like books and movies to everyday people for what can only be described as recreational purposes.
What this ignores is that libraries are not allowed to digitize in-copyright print books (or physical films) and then distribute these digital copies. This is what the Internet Archive got in trouble for. Emulating old games is not that different.
Maybe the laws should be changed. But pretending that there's one set of rules for books and then a higher scrutiny for games is utterly backwards. Game publishers want the protections afforded to books and movies; it is archivists and emulators who want a double standard because of the unique technical challenges around old games. I am sympathetic to this position[1]. But I am not sympathetic to what has felt like 20 years of smarmy, dishonest games journalism around copyright. Too many journalists are completely in the tank for emulation, and they intentionally mislead readers with useless articles like this. It drives me crazy.
[1] Although note the dishonest conflation of "games publishers" and "game copyright holders." Game journalists simply ignore that small indie devs also want copyright protection, focusing on Nintendo and Playstation for naked political reasons.
> Soon after the settlement, the United States Congress passed the Computer Software Rentals Amendment Act prohibiting software rentals, excluding Nintendo cartridges from similar protections. Although Nintendo criticized the game rental business, they came to accept it, even working with Blockbuster to offer exclusive rental versions of their games. The first-sale doctrine was eventually subverted by end-user license agreements, which describe that the consumer is purchasing a singular, non-transferable license to the software, thus limiting the sale of used software.
> Excludes certain home video game software from the prohibition (including a computer program embodied in a machine or product which cannot be copied during the ordinary operation of such machine or product).
Libraries had a specific carve out as well over software in general "Authorizes nonprofit libraries to lend computer programs if a copyright warning has been affixed to the computer program packaging" which probably wouldn't apply to digital. But, it is wrong to say there weren't different rules for software vs books vs specifically game console software.
The DMCA had lots of flexibility for administrative law to make specific carve outs treating different media circumvention stuff differently for things like preservation:
> Lawmakers opted to create a rulemaking mechanism through the United States Copyright Office to review the state of copyrights and fair use to make limited classes of allowance for fair use which would be considered lawful means of using circumvention technology.
> More importantly, this also ignores the fact that libraries already lend out digital versions of more traditional media like books and movies to everyday people for what can only be described as recreational purposes.
What this ignores is that libraries are not allowed to digitize in-copyright print books (or physical films) and then distribute these digital copies. This is what the Internet Archive got in trouble for. Emulating old games is not that different.
Maybe the laws should be changed. But pretending that there's one set of rules for books and then a higher scrutiny for games is utterly backwards. Game publishers want the protections afforded to books and movies; it is archivists and emulators who want a double standard because of the unique technical challenges around old games. I am sympathetic to this position[1]. But I am not sympathetic to what has felt like 20 years of smarmy, dishonest games journalism around copyright. Too many journalists are completely in the tank for emulation, and they intentionally mislead readers with useless articles like this. It drives me crazy.
[1] Although note the dishonest conflation of "games publishers" and "game copyright holders." Game journalists simply ignore that small indie devs also want copyright protection, focusing on Nintendo and Playstation for naked political reasons.